


i'll be your number one

by orphan_account



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst, Homophobic Language, Period-Typical Homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-30
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-08-18 17:50:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8170519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: AU where Barbara got out alive out of the Upside Down, and how she and Nancy started loving each other.





	

Barb threw up the slugs, feeling terribly sick. She saw light, though, and the sound of footsteps. Maybe they were there to save her from the monster. Or maybe it was because of Will. However, someone had entered the Upside Down, and she just wanted to get out of there.

With shaky steps, she followed the light. And she yelled: "Wait for me!" she begged, and she saw three shadows -- two adult-tall and one that was unmistakably Will's -- turned around. "Wait for me," she whispered, the grip on reality weak as she kept walking until she was next to what once were shadows.

"You're alright," the woman whispered, and Barb recognized her as Joyce Byers. "She told us you were gone."

"Who is 'she'?" Barb questioned, but the Chief put his hand on her shoulder and helped her follow them. Will looked tired, barely awake, but he walked steadily.

Barb coughed and ended throwing up more slugs, and Joyce looked at her with a bit of worry. "I'm alright. I'm alright, miss Byers."

They kept walking until they got to the Normal World. Barb let out another cough and shook her head. And she fainted shortly thereafter.

* * *

Her parents were there, her mother's hand intertwined with hers. She opened her eyes slowly, felt the hospital gown and sighed. "You're alright," her mother breathed, and Barb nodded.

"She's awake!" she heard someone say -- was that Steve? -- and she looked at the door until three faces poked out of it.

"Nance!" Barb said, crying from happiness.

"Barb..." Nancy said softly, passing her fingers through the other girl's hair. "I thought you were gone. Eleven said you were gone."

"Eleven? Like the number?"

"Yeah. A friend."

Barb nodded and smiled brightly. She stared at Nancy like she was her lifesaver, like she was what she had held onto as she was in the Upside Down. Barb looked at her parents, Steve and Jonathan and softly said: "Could you maybe leave?"

"Yeah," and they so left.

"You're so breathtaking," Nancy sighed, and she kissed her cheek sheepishly. "I love you."

Barb smiled brightly; she thought it had been one-sided all along. She kissed her lips instead. It lasted a few seconds, but it felt like years. She loved her, she loved her so, so much. "I love you, too."

Nancy smiled. "Nancy the slut Wheeler is at it again, huh?" Nancy muttered sarcastically, to later explain briefly Jonathan and Steve's fight and how they had put graffiti saying that on the cinema.

"But... do you really prefer me over Steve? Over Jonathan?"

"Of course I do, Barb, of course I do."

"It'll be a lot harder with me, though, considering we're gay."

"I don't care. I love you, Barb."

"I love you, too." Barb smiled softly and Nacy kissed her lips once, twice. "Go tell them it's okay to get in here, I don't want them to worry."

"Alright. When you're out come to my house, alright?"

"I will, love."

Nancy gave her the best of her crooked smiles and left, telling Barb's parents they could come in.

* * *

"So you're a dyke now?" Steve asked as he sat on Nancy's couch.

"What...? No!" Nancy tried her best to look disgusted at the idea of being a fag, but considering she was bi, that wasn't as easy.

"I saw you kissing Barbara, Nancy."

"Oh, shut up!" Nancy said, looking down. Steve could tell everyone, everyone could get to know she was disgusting. She faced enough homophobia on her own; she didn't need to get more people to hate her for dating a girl.

"I could tell everyone, Nance." The nickname sounded disgusting in Steve's mouth. "I could tell everyone you're gay. It'd ruin your life. But I'll be a good ex boyfriend and won't, you know why?"

"Why?" Nancy said in a whisper, barely audible.

"Because I still love you." He said, kissed her cheek and quietly left her house.

Nancy sighed into her arm, feeling the tears form in her eyes. She cried silently, not making much point in paying attention to her parents, and just cried the fear away.

* * *

Lies.

That was all she thought as she saw the words 'STARRING NANCY THE DYKE WHEELER' written in red spray paint in the cinema billboard. She was walking with Barb, and her girlfriend followed her as she walked aimlessly to the billboard.

"What? Nancy, what's going...?" Barb fell into silence when she saw the red spray paint. She bit her lip and hugged Nancy, who cried softly in Barb's shoulder.

"Let's go to my house," Barb said softly, not wanting Nancy to keep seeing the red spray paint and how humiliating it was.

"Alright," Nancy breathed, the tears still flowing through her cheeks. They were walking through the street when they heard a voice--

"Not so fast, pair of dykes!"

Barb and Nancy turned around to see Steve's little gang, looking at them with a bit of scorn in their eyes. Steve wasn't with them, which made Nancy believe he had slipped up her secret and was too ashamed to come to see her get beaten up.

"Fags! Fucking fags, man!" the girl said, and the boy ruffled her hair. "You both are disgusting!"

"*You are disgusting," Barb muttered, and Nancy grabbed her arm, whispering for her to not go. "Let me go, Nance."

"But-- Barb..." Nancy whispered, but Barb got her arm away from her girlfriend as she walked towards the two teenagers.

"Oh, you're the man in the relationship, aren't you, you queer?" the girl said, her hands on her pockets.

Barb didn't mind the comment and suddenly she slapped the girl.

"Wow! Wow, wow, wow!" the boy said as the girl fell to the ground and Barb punched her. The boy took Barb by her arms and the girl got up to then punch her in the nose, in the stomach, until Barb coughed up blood.

"Fag! Queer! Dyke!" she heard as she fell unconscious, Nancy looking at Barb and the two as they left her in the ground and left, running away from them.

"Barb..." Nancy said, crying softly, her hand on Barb's hair. She kissed her lips, not caring about the scoffing she heard -- it was clear there were people watching them.

"Please wake up," she said as she kissed her again. Barb's eyes met hers, and she blinked slowly as she got up.

"Let's go," Barb said, not minding her broken nose and the blood in her lips.

Nancy smiled. "Let's go."

* * *

Nancy got into the bathroom just by when Barb was throwing up the slug-like creatures. "Barb! Are you alright?" she looked around and saw the bathroom was empty besides them both.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Barb said, smiling weakly.

Nancy hugged her softly and sighed into Barb's hair. "What are those things you threw up?"

"I'm not very sure," Barb muttered. "They're from the Upside Down, but that's about all I know."

Nancy grit her teeth and nodded. She took her hand on hers and squeezed softly, and Barb smiled as she kissed her lips.

* * *

 

It was Nancy's eighteenth birthday, and she decided it was time to tell her parents she was dating Barb. It had been two years since they had started dating, and their relationship was only a silent rumor that came from Steve's mouth. Nobody believed it, anyway, considering Steve was Nancy's ex and exes tended to spread nasty rumors like those.

"So, before the school year ends and I have to move out... I have an announcement to make."

Mike looked at him weirdly, almost as if he knew what was up. Eleven and him were fourteen now, both freshmen in their high school, and they were happy together. Eleven wasn't very aware of what the announcement could be.

Barb, meanwhile, looked quite nervous and she kept fiddling with her jeans zipper.

She closed her eyes, breathed and opened them again, to then say: "I'm dating Barb."

"YOU WHAT?" Mike yelled, and Eleven didn't look as weirded out as everyone else. She had never been told same gender relationships were wrong, and so she believed it was okay.

"What... the hell, Nancy?" her and Mike's mother said softly.

"I'm dating Barb. I'm bi."

Her mother blinked a few times, and then went to hug her daughter. "That's alright. For how long?"

She sighed. "Two years."

"I'm so proud of you, dear," her mother said, and Nancy smiled weakly. "I don't care, as long as you're happy."

Eleven looked at Mike, a silent question in her eyes. Mike tensed up and sighed. "Well, it's usually seen as wrong to love the same sex. I thought that until Lucas told me he liked boys. Since then I don't mind."

Eleven nodded, but then they heard Barb yell: "Lucas is also gay?"

"Yup," Mike nodded.

Barb smiled brightly, and Nancy had never found her smile more beautiful.

"I love you," Nancy said as she got closer to her and kissed her.

"I love you, too," she said, slightly flustered, as they separated from each other.

Mike wolf whistled and Eleven rolled her eyes, as Nancy's mom laughed.

They were happy together, and that was what mattered.


End file.
